Method of bonding rails and like conductors.



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METHOD OF BONDING H1 LS AND LIKE CONDUCTORS MMM, 1916.

APPLICATION FILED l bonding rails in that l am ahle to sima AVout removing or disturbingF ene snli and still have the lgreater portion oi FFEQEQ,

JOHN R. BELOW/"N, DI? MANSFEL, GRCE, ASS

MANSFIELE, HIG, l. CELFOP LETHQ OE BGNEI 1;. All? EXE CONDUCTORES.

Lemons..

Application filed il, i916.

'ne object of my invention is to provideA a connection around the adjacent ends of two rails Without the use et rivet, holt, er:- pandine' pin, ete.

Another obiect of my invention i able to bond the adiacent en bond protected byl passing' the hond the opening between the splice plate rail. e

Another object ot my invention ig te terra an integral union between the bond termi nals themselves and the rail by Welding the terminals to the rail thus giving; a hi girly ei'- icient connection mechanically and. electricallv.

Still another object of my invention to piiovide i means which is economicalI in itaneously connecttvvo hond terminals tonether and te the rail. thus saving heat energy and time over that of applying each terminal separately.

A still further oloiect oiE my invention is 'to provide means for a'f'otachinaa hond terr/ih nals to the rail wherehy the rail hond used can he provided with terminals et such shape that they Will pass hetrveen the splice plato and rail.

lJlTith the above and other ohjiects in view, Which will appear later, the same censists in the novel construction, location. applica tion of heat. and welding or filling-ir r cf as hereinafter described and then cl Referring to the drawings-Figure 'i is e side elevation of a rail lioint. showing' the location of the bonds l use with resnect to the rail joints and splice plates. his. 2

Specification of Letters ferien,

E atented Jan.. 3G, 19N'.

Serial No. 536,571.

taken on the line 2-2 Fig. l. big. S is an enlarged side elevation of one set of terminals to better show their relation to each other and to the rail.

experience in bonding rails has shown ine that it vis desirable to provide a method.

olf' bonding rails which Will permit the bond to he so constructed that it Will readily pass het-Ween the splice plate and the rail without disturhingthe splice plate; at the same time a hond of such constructionvvill necessarily have a. limited capacityl and a terminal of small dimension and not suited to be bolted, 'ii eted or compressed into a hole in the rail the usual method of attaching), bond erminais to rails. t is desirable therefore in order to secure the required bonded capacity to use two or more bonds around the ignate tivo hands which have `heen passed around the ioint between the plate and rail and nrovided with terminals 8 and 9 and lirounht into position on the rail for attachan? shovv to better advantage the position of t terminals with respect to the rail and to each other.

lt will 'be observed hv Figs. 2 and 3 that t terminals suitable `for passing between the snlice plate and rail are of such character that they are not suitable to he attached oit-inn'. clampin` or expanding in holes in the ail` ete.. is ordinarilv done. theretore, l have devised a method of applying terminals to the rail which `will permit oi inalrine; a permanent, hiehlv eiicient elec ically and mechanically by means of which method the two adjacent terminals can he attached to the rail simultaneously and at che same time united into one terminal through the medium of added metal shown hv numeral 10 in Fig. 2 and "which l more fully describe later on.

The method vvhich l' have devised for the bondirnzq of rails is as follower-The bonds are lirst passed beneath the splice platea's shown in Fig. l and their terminals placed in position on the rail as better shown in Figs. Qnand 3. It will be noted in Fig. 2 that the terminals proper are spaced apart and parallel to each other. The terminals being in position,l l make use of the onyacetylene flame or a flame of like character, or the electric arc, etc., for simultaneously bringing the rail between the terminals and the terminals themselves `up to a melting point and then adding at the point of application of the heat, metal preferably in the form. of a rod ir thin stick which is immediately melted oown and unites with the molten surfaces of the rail and bond and which will immediately solidify upon removing the source of heat, thus uniting the terminals. the rail and the added metal into an integral unit. The flame is now moved along the terminals slightly and the previn ous process repeated until the entire space between the terminals has been filled with the added metal, thus forming as it were the two terminals into one terminal throughout their length and Aat the same time Welding them to the rail.

By applying the added metal between the bond terminals it is possible to unite the two terminals at the same time, thus saving gas or electricity used and the time required, which on a large installation amounts to many dollars in saving.

It is possible of course to place the terminals in contact at their inner faces and apply the added metal to the outside face of each terminal and to the rail but this requires more time and'heat.

To facilitate the work. l place small projections 1l on the base of the bond terminal next the rail which produce a slight space 12 therebetween, Figs. 2 and 3, and which permit the heat waves to pass away readily in place of being reflected and thereby preventing a thorough and reliable contact of the added metal 10 to the rail and bond terminal The offsetting of the terminals from the rail just described, l consider a very valluable feature in vthe construction of the bond used in my method of bonding.

The form of heat used is one which is very intense, approximately 6,000 degrees AFahrenheit, and is concentrated, therefore only a very short length of terminal is welded at a time, but the heat is so intense that the work is done very quickly and the lapparatus required is very simple and inexensive.

While l have described the details of the preferred method of my invention, it is apparent that various modifications may be made by one skilled in the art without departin from the spirit and scope of my invention and it is not desired to be limited 'to the exact details shown.

l/Vhat l claim is 1- 1. The method of electrically connecting or bonding the adjacent ends of rails held by splice plates which consists in passing two or more rail bonds around the adjacent ends of the rails to be bonded and between the rails and the splice plates, and welding the ends of the bonds together and simultaneously to the rails.

2. The method of bondingthe adjacent ends of rails held by splice plates consisting in passing one or more rail'bonds having elongated terminals between thc already installed rails and splice plates and welding the terminals to the rail by adding molten metal forming an integral union with the bond terminal and rail.

3. The method of bonding the adjacent ends of rails held by splice plates consisting in threading around the joint and between the rails and splice plates, two or more rail bonds provided with terminals which will pass between the rails and splice plates without removing same, bringing the terminals adjacent to each other and building up the space there-between by means of molten metal integrally united to the ter-4 minals and to the rail forming. thereby ay bonded joint.

4. An electrical connection consisting of a rail, a plurality of bondsvprovided with terminals, faces on the terminals, one' face on each terminal resting neXt the rail surface, one face on each terminal facing each other and metal integrally united to the rail between `the terminals and to the face on each terminal facing each other.

5. An electrical connection consisting of a rail, a plurality of v'bonds each provided with terminals, the terminals at each end placed next the rail and spaced apart and metal united integrally with the terminals and the rail.

6. An electrical connection consisting of arail, a plurality of bonds each provided placed next the rail and spaced apart and metal uniting integrally with the terminals and the rail, the metalA located in the space between the terminals.

7. .An electrical connection consisting of a rail, a pluralityof bonds, each provided with a terminal having means for offsetting from the rail and metal welded to the rail and terminals uniting 'the terminals into one.

8. The method of electrically connecting or bonding the adjacent ends of rails held -l10 wlth terminals, the terminals at each end by splice plates which consists of passing Lemme or more loonds, placing the teimnals in p0- sition on the raill approximately 'parallel and spaced apart and filling up the space .therebetween by means of successive zip-- In testimony whereof afiix my :signeture in the presence of two Witnesses.

JQHN n. BROWN,

Witnesses:

W. W. HUNZIGKER, W. P. Bomen.l 

